Second-degree murder charges laid in car thief's slaying

A man with a criminal past has been arrested and accused of last Friday's homicide outside a North End apartment complex.

Damian Geoffrey Fontaine, 26, is charged with second-degree murder and assault with a weapon in the stabbing death of 25-year-old Phillepp Rick George Amos. The incident occurred during an altercation at about 4 a.m. in the courtyard of the complex at Robinson Street and Flora Avenue.

KEN GIGLIOTTI / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS

Police investigate at the scene of a fight that resulted in the death of Phillepp Rick George Amos. Photo Store

A 38-year-old man was also injured in the altercation and taken to hospital in stable condition.

Witnesses at the scene Friday said Amos was stabbed with what appeared to be a machete.

Fontaine, who is in custody, remains innocent until proven guilty in court. The allegations against him have not been proven.

Fontaine has a criminal record of convictions for possession of property obtained by crime and causing a disturbance when he hurled abuse at police officers while drunk in the spring of 2008.

As a result of those charges, court records showed he was sentenced to 18 months of supervised probation and 45 days time served awaiting resolution of the charges.

The victim, who was also known as Phillip McDonald, was out on bail at the time he was slain and bound by a 10 p.m. to 6 a.m. curfew as well as wanted by police after failing to turn up in court last Tuesday.

He was facing charges of breaching a now-expired probation order and also in connection with the seizure of 20 rounds of ammunition from a backpack in the North End on July 27.

He was arrested by officers in the tactical support team following a foot chase that snaked from the nearby Norquay Community Centre in Point Douglas to Selkirk Avenue, court heard in August.

The Winnipeg police stolen-auto unit considered Amos among their highest-risk offenders, according to prosecutors. He was being monitored in public by a community corrections worker and a probation officer.

Amos was Winnipeg's 19th homicide in 2013 and the third this month.

--Ashley Prest, with files from James Turner and Adam Wazny

Winnipeg homicides, 2013

This map shows the locations of homicides in Winnipeg in 2012.

Green icons indicate cases that are solved -- that is, a suspect has been charged, or no charges apply. Red icons indicate unsolved cases.

Use the controls at left to zoom in and out on the map, and click and drag to move around the map.